You know that a cultural phenomenon has TRULY arrived when it gets used in advertising.

That moment has come for AI!

Recently I watched an advert on TV for Dove soap.

In the ad, we see a woman on the sofa with her laptop, typing out prompts for an AI image-generator.

“Imagine the most beautiful woman in the world” she writes.

The image that appears is a classic blonde model, very young, super slim, with model-standard cheekbones and perfect skin.

She does it again, and the same kind of image appears, over and over.

However, when she writes “Imagine the most beautiful woman in the world according to Dove real beauty” she gets a more realistic range of body and face types.

Explaining the advert, Dove has made the following statement:

“Two decades ago, Dove took a stand to challenge false beauty standards. Today, as we transition into an era where 90% of content is predicted to be AI-generated by 2025, our message still stands: keep beauty real.

1 in 3 women feel pressure to alter their appearance because of what they see online, even when they know the images are fake or AI-generated. The rise of AI poses one of the greatest threats to real beauty in the last 20 years, meaning representation is more important than ever.

That’s why Dove is renewing its vow to champion real beauty, with a commitment to never use AI to create or distort images of women.”

This championing of real natural beauty is something Dove have been doing for a few decades, because they are pioneers in ‘cause marketing’, also known as ‘socially-minded storytelling’.

That is, where you align your product or service with a social, political or ethical cause.  

Now, it doesn’t mean that your product itself needs necessarily to advance that cause.

Look at Dove for instance – basically, it’s soap, right?

On its own, it isn’t doing anything for the advancement of body politics for women.

But in their marketing, they’ve linked their soap to natural beauty, and gone against all their competitors by NOT using traditional models for their ads.

And now that AI has come along, it has given them a new front in their battle and a new story to tell.

This is something worth thinking about when you are starting a business or creating a product.

And by that I don’t mean cynically hitching yourself to any old cause purely for clicks and sales.

I mean asking yourself…

“How Does My Product Help People?”

I’ve written before about the importance of taking all the features of your product and turning them into benefits.

How, specifically, will that feature help them in their life?

How will it help them reach a goal or avoid a problem?

What would that transformation look like in real terms?

But you can go even further and think about how society might be improved if more people took on the advice, skills or knowledge that you’re sharing…

Or you can think about the VALUES that are inherent to you (and your service), and how they might align with the experiences of a specific group of people within society.

For example, before I started my Course Creation Academy, I was very shy about being in the public eye, speaking in public, and sharing my ideas online.

Until then, I’d been in the background of my business, while my husband did the presenting and speaking.

So I wanted my course to align its values with other women who felt imposter syndrome, or who might feel they weren’t skilled or qualified enough…

I wanted to facilitate a change, where more women course creators stepped up to share what they know.

That’s something I’ve championed right from the beginning in my editorial, and in my marketing.

It gives a wider purpose to what I do than simply passing on my marketing and publishing knowledge.

There’s a real benefit to doing this – because not only does it help you stand out from your competitors, but it can generate word-of-mouth marketing too.

Why People Seek Good Causes

In 2013, neuroscientists pinpointed the part of the brain that creates a buzz and drives people to share ideas.

Matthew Lieberman, a UCLA professor of psychology and of psychiatry and biobehavioural sciences said:

‘Our study suggests that people are regularly attuned to how the things they’re seeing will be useful and interesting, not just to themselves but to other people. We always seem to be on the lookout for who else will find this helpful, amusing or interesting.’

In other words, people not only like to share things that help others, we actively seek them out.

So if you want to attract more people to your social media and your sales messages, having a wider cause will help.

And if you want people to eagerly share your posts, videos and blog links, you should show that there is a purpose for your business that’s MORE than about your own profits or personal success.

16 Types of Cause to Pursue

Here are some examples to get you thinking…

• Raising awareness – Are you trying to educate the wider public about something that’s misunderstood, ignored or forgotten?

• Heritage – Are you passionate about a piece of heritage or history that’s disappearing?

• Law – Does a piece of legislation frustrate you and many others like you?

• Dispelling myths & misinformation – Do you get infuriated by misconceptions in the public and mainstream media about a cause that’s dear to you?

• Information overload – Are you involved in a field or industry where it’s hard to get clear, uncomplicated and trustworthy advice?

• Environment – Do you get angry about unnecessary waste and pollution?

• Watchdog – Are you a crusader for better quality in your area of interest?

• Ethics – Do your materials, ideas or recommendations take into account workers’ rights, fair trade, child labour, abuse of women and other ethical issues?

• Revival – Are you bringing back a style, method or approach that’s been overlooked, ignored or less popular?

• Defeating a common enemy – Could you be your customer’s best defence against a problematic entity, for instance an institution, corporation or social prejudice?

• Restoring a reputation – Have you taken a product or service with a bad reputation, or that’s had limitations on its effectiveness in the past, then tweaked or improved it for people to use more easily?

• Objectivity – Does your business cut through bias, lies and prejudice to offer a uniquely balanced approach?

• Local community – Does your business or product have a positive effect on your local area?

• Charitable cause – Could you help promote or donate to a cause linked in some way to your business?

• Disruptive technology – Are you taking a technology and applying it to something else, allowing you to help your customers in new ways?

• Empowering others – Is there a way that your business can also help individuals or a group achieve something by raising awareness or funds?

Have a think and see if any of these might align with the values or worldview of your service and your customers.

Then consider getting this message into your course materials, marketing, social media and ‘about me’ page on your website (if you have one).

Like Dove, you could even write it up as a mini-manifesto – a piece of text that explains what you believe, why it’s important, and how you can help

Until next time,